The Truth About Red Meat

It’s undeniably hard to ascertain the best advice about diet and health in a modern world so packed with conflicting advice. For years, the conventional message has been to prioritise a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet, with plenty of fruit, vegetables and high-fibre carbohydrates. But the facts show that the Western world is getting ever fatter, as the underlying problem with excess calories and insufficient exercise continues to persist.

Red meat has been held up as a ‘bad’ food linked with all kinds of ailments, from cancer, to obesity. But as with many research studies, the specifics and parameters need to be further investigated to understand whether such claims are truly accurate.

New Diets – Ancient Philosophies

The caveman or paleo diets are good examples of how alternative thinking is beginning to break through into the more conventional diet industry – and remember, the ‘diet’ industry is exactly that; a multi-billion pound sector predicated on failure.

The caveman or paleo diets go back to our roots, literally, encouraging people to eat food that is clean, unadulterated and unprocessed. It emphasises organic vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, with protein from grass-fed meat and wild salmon, amongst others. Lean fowl meat is also encouraged, as is fat from ‘good’ sources. Proponents eat clean for 80pc of the time, and treat themselves when they want to.

The Benefits of ‘Primal’ Eating

Followers of the paleo diet are evangelistic about its benefits. Weight loss, health, vitality and an improved appearance are all believed to result from this most ancient way of eating, although the debate rages about what ‘paleo’ actually is, in a world where each nation evolved eating a local and specific diet. With regard to red meat however, it does seem as though grass-fed, high quality meat in small portions offers more benefits than it does negatives.

Red meat is packed with protein, iron and amino acids. It also provides the all important ‘satiety’ factor which is missing in low fat, high carbohydrate diets, where people never feel quite full enough. So if you are looking to buy hog roast machines for your next event from thehoggboss.com, there are a number of attractive reasons for doing so – way beyond the taste factor!

So what about the arguments that red meat causes health problems? Well, it seems as though these concerns are more applicable when the meat is of a highly processed, salted and smoked variety with damaging additives and known carcinogens incorporated into a natural product. Good quality meat is something we were designed to eat as humans, and indeed evolved to eat.

The ‘takeway’

By prioritising good quality, naturally-sourced meat from reputable sources, and keeping processed meat for tasty treats to enjoy less often, we can enjoy a healthy diet and resulting good health – especially when prioritising vegetables, fruit and other natural foods into an all-round balanced diet. The trick lies in eating natural food as far as possible, minimising sugar and chemicals, drinking plenty of water, and generally focusing on nutrition, rather than simple calories.